Well, I was hoping for a better position but being an Honorable Mention / Special Recognition winner of the Writers Weekly Fall 24-hour short story contest is okay. I’ll take it!! I did a search to see how many, on average, submit to the Writers Weekly contests and AI told me they have a limit of about 500. I was hoping it was more. ha! Anyway, I love the 24hr format and will try again in the Winter contest. For your entertainment, here’s my entry. The Blood Moon Two brothers, Lloyd and Wyatt Bernard, sat in decrepit folding chairs on a sagging porch. The boys were tired after a day of fixing the family still. They took turns swigging from an old crockery jug. This part of Kentucky had once been a moonshining capital and a business legacy for the Bernard family going back generations. Now, business was slow. The rotting porch faced a well-used dirt road, and beyond lay a field of rotting pumpkins. Behind, to the west, stood a ten-acre wood of pin oak and felled trees mostly covered with overgrown kudzu. Posted signs every ten feet read: No Trespasin, and we mean it! The thicket made access to the shack housing the ancient still nearly impossible. Lloyd pointed to the sky. “Oh shit, Wyatt, look at that.” Wyatt nodded. “Yeah, we better get inside soon; the moon is turning.” He handed the jug to Lloyd, who slung it up for a swig in a single smooth motion. He sat the jug on the bleached, splintering floorboards between them. Lloyd agreed. “Oh yeah. That bigass blood moon is gonna be turning orange soon.” Wyatt’s eyes squinted as he tried to adjust his eyesight. “The hell is that?” Lloyd strained to see, then echoed, “The hell…?” A young girl

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